Anyway, I don’t care much what they think (detractors will detract), but it did spur me to recall a picture showing Mitt in jeans with incredibly bad hair. I also recalled the wonderful human interest story behind the picture. A few google searches later I was able to dig it back up, and I found a related video to the story that I had not yet seen. The original blog post containing the story and pictures doesn’t exist anymore, but the entire text has been preserved by Mr. Swint at the My Dry Fly blog, and is including below.

For insight into what Mitt is really like, not as a businessman, not as a politician, but as a compassionate human being, I know of no better story than this:

The full story plus more photos after the fold…

From Mr. Swint’s blog we get the full account of the lady who owned the house in the video above:

Click image to view full size

A month ago, the most serious natural disaster struck America since Hurricane Katrina as wildfires burned through huge portions of California, destroying hundreds of homes in its wake. Occasionally within the onslaught of media coverage, a story of neighborly kindness would seep through and we would see a portion of America that we can be proud of. One would think that amidst all of the media coverage, good and bad, that a story about one of our Presidential candidates quietly serving his neighbor (so to speak) would be easily discovered and reported. But, alas, it was not.

Daniel B. at Confessions of a Political Junkie breaks the story, in which Mitt Romney, who was visiting his son in California prior to a meeting later in the day, joined a handful of people to help a local person tear the roots of a tree destroyed in the fire out of his front yard. An email obtained by David B. relates the following:

Remember that big pine tree right in the front as you walk out the front door. It pretty well got cooked in the fire. In fact Brian *, Steve *, Chris *and Jeremy * cut most of it down the first day we were allowed back in the neighborhood. But the trunk and the stump was too much to handle that day.

Last week a brother in the Del Sur ward sent me an email and said he and some others would like to do something to help. I told him that one of the things on my “to- do” list was to remove a tree stump from my front yard, but it was a pretty big job! He said they wanted to come and do it. I reluctantly said OK, but, “I do not expect you to really get it out because it is a big root. It has been there for over 20 years.” So he called me to confirm and said that they were coming at 7am on Wednesday morning and his DAD might come too. I decided to go to Los Primos and get some breakfast machaca burritos and orange juice for the crew coming to work on my stump..so I was late in arriving. I drove in from Cabela because it gives me a better feeling entering our street as none of the homes at the top of Luz Pl were burned. As I drove up I looked and saw several men down in the hole around the tree.

Click image to view full size

They were really going at it with power saws provided by the LDS Church. Then I got a Big Surprise. First I saw Matt, then beside him with chain saw buzzing away was a candidate for President of the United States!!! You guessed it!! Matt Romney was there with his DAD, “MITT ROMNEY”, former governor of Massachusetts and republican presidential candidate. He was actually in Levi’s and a blue T shirt and tennis shoes, with leather gloves and goggles. He was really sawing away at my stump! Others who were there working were LDS Bishop Jim Davies, Greg Davis and 6 LDS Missionaries. Oh and I almost forgot the Secret Service bodyguards were nearby standing guard. The Mormon Missionaries were there because they have been reassigned to disaster relief projects all over San Diego where the fires burned. They got assigned by their leaders to come to our home at 11372 Luz Place that morning. There were no local news media. Mitt and Matt Romney were just being good neighbors helping neighbors. Mitt was in Southern Calif for some meetings later in the day up in Riverside/San Bernardino. I can really tell that the Romney’s know how to work and to work really hard. I looked over my shovel at one point and sweat was running down Mitt’s face. When I suggested we stop for a breakfast burrito, I got a polite ‘maybe later, gotta get this root out.” Mitt told me that this reminded him of taking out a stump on the ranch with his father.after it was too much his Dad(George Romney) said get some dynamite! Well, Mitt attacked that old stump, cutting as many of the big roots as he could until it was well time past for he and Matt to leave for their meetings up north. I put a Machaca burrito in Mitts hand and a glass of O.J. I could tell he didn’t like leaving the job partially completed and neither did Matt. But I knew they had “bigger stumps” elsewhere that day.”

So you see, Mitt Romney has been sporting blue jeans and bad hair while working the “stump” since 2007. Nothing new to see here folks… move along.

~Nate Gunderson

(If you feel so inclined, please use the Facebook “Recommend” button at the top of this post to share this story with your FB friends.)

Nate owns and manages a small souvenir manufacturing business. He and his wife of 12 years have 2 children. Nate has been blogging for Mitt Romney since late 2006 and is co-founder and editor of MittRomneyCentral.com.View Posts | View Profile

In early July, Romney marched in Wolfeboro’s Fourth of July parade in jeans and a checked shirt, his hair tousled, a combination that became something of a uniform on his spring book tour. A few days later, he invited national and local political reporters to his Wolfeboro home for an off-the-record barbecue.